Kilmarnock 1 Hearts 0: match report

Read a match report of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash between
Kilmarnock and Hearts at Rugby Park on Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012.

Kilmarnock’s assistant-manager, Jimmy Nicholl, standing in for Kenny Shiels as he completed a three-match touchline ban, hailed his players’ resilience as they moved into sixth place in the table with this hard-fought victory.

“It was backs-to-the-wall stuff in the second half, you saw that yourselves,” he said. “We’d played reasonably well in the first half and I was quite enjoying it.

“There was good pace to our game, we were direct, James Dayton was on form and he won the penalty kick.

“So things were going all right for us but we just couldn’t get out after the break, when we had to put in some shift.

“We didn’t play the way the manager likes the team to play but sometimes you have to give the opposition credit for stopping you from doing that.

“If they don’t allow you to play then it’s all about how to win a game of football and I’m just delighted with the three points.”

Kilmarnock drew first blood when James Dayton dropped his shoulder and sold Scotland defender Andy Webster a dummy.

The winger was brought down and midfielder Liam Kelly, who was returning from a one-match suspension and has been linked with a move to Celtic once his contract expires in the summer, drove the resulting penalty kick behind Jamie MacDonald with conviction.

Kilmarnock may have edged the first half but after the break the game, territorially at least, belonged to the visitors.

However, substitute Callum Paterson squandered their best opportunity to restore parity. Mahamadou Sissoko’s mistake left him with only Cammy Bell to beat from 25 yards but the 18 year-old snatched at the chance and shot weakly at the goalkeeper.

“Early in the season he had a one-on-one and he hit that very early as well,” said Hearts manager John McGlynn. “Hopefully, he will learn because, if he takes it on, the goalkeeper is a good bit out of his goal and, with the pace he was running at, Callum could have taken it round him and put it into the empty net.”

That lack of a cutting edge has bedevilled Hearts this season and goes some way to explaining why they have won one of their last 12 league fixtures away from Tynecastle.

It also provides the reason for them losing twice to Kilmarnock this season, in spite of dominating large chunks of both encounters.

Hearts could have moved into fourth place with a victory but, instead, they slipped to ninth in a campaign which has been as frustrating on the field as it has been troubled off it.